Frontier Medicine

I heard parts of an interesting On-Point episode about Frontier Medicine as I was driving 'round doing errands this morning.  I didn't catch the whole thing but the parts I did catch were intriguing.  The guy who is being interviewed, David Dary, who's written a new book on the subject, began by talking about the way in which Native Americans approached medicine.  The part that I heard was about the "medicine bag" and the way in which young men acquired them along with their spirit animals when they turned 14.  Then another part I heard was about a woman who survived the first recorded instance of exploratory surgery.  People were also calling in with family stories and examples of family remedies.

Here's a link to the show: Cures, Quacks, and Medicine Men

And David Dary's book: Frontier Medicine